Survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today burned effigy of US President, Barrack Obama for continuing to shield Dow Chemical Company from the ongoing criminal proceedings on the disaster in the Bhopal District Court. Leaders of survivors’ organizations expressed outrage at the White House’s recent response to a petition signed by well over 125,000 signatories calling for the US Department of Justice to serve the Bhopal court’s notice on Dow Chemical.

Supporters of the Bhopal survivors will be holding actions outside American consulates in India demanding that the US government stop protecting Dow Chemical. Supporters will also send out tweets @POTUS and @PMOindia asking them to make Dow Chemical appear in its hearing on 19th August in the Bhopal Court.

“The White House has said that asking the US Department of Justice to serve notice on Dow Chemical would be exercising “undue influence”. This is extreme duplicity. How can asking the Department to follow the terms of the treaty between India and US be improper?” said Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha.

Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said “The US government’s refusal to follow its treaty with India under the pretext of not using undue influence is heavy with irony. There is documentary evidence of the US government using undue influence to help Union Carbide set up the killer factory in Bhopal and to protect its chairman Warren Anderson from criminal proceedings in the Bhopal court.”

“We are shocked that the Indian government and particularly the Indian home ministry that sent the Bhopal court’s notice to the US Department of Justice has chosen to remain quiet about the repeated violation of the 25 year old Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between India and US” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

She said that the organizations have sent letters to the PMO and the Home Minister demanding that the Indian government refuse to honour requests from the US Department of Justice under MLAT till it serves the Bhopal District Court’s notice on Dow Chemical.

Safreen Khan of Children Against Dow-Carbide said “President Obama vowed to kick the ass of a British corporation for the oil spill disaster in Gulf of Mexico but when it comes to an American corporation he seems to be kissing instead of kicking”.

You can shine a spotlight on injustice and shame the US government into changing how it deals with corporate criminals by signing our petition to demand the US Government stop shielding Dow Chemical from accountability for its crimes in Bhopal, India .

Greed, carelessness, and a callous disregard for human life – these words sum up the causes of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster. Dow Chemical, an American corporation, and its subsidiary the Union Carbide Corporation are legally responsible for the 1984 Bhopal disaster. But Dow-Carbide has refused to show up to court and face criminal charges that have been pending in India for 25+ years. Dow-Carbide has gotten away with thisbecause the US government keeps acting as Dow’s special protector, guarding it from all accusations and accountability.

Right now the White House and the US Department of Justice are shielding Dow-Carbide from FOUR court notices sent by the Indian Judicial system, which per international treaty must be served to Dow. It’s time we told the US Department of Justice to do its job properly and abide by international law! Sign the petition now!

At a press conference today, five organisations fighting for the rights of the survivors of the December ‘84 Bhopal gas disaster expressed anger at the repeated non-appearance of The Dow Chemical Company, USA, current owner of Union Carbide, in response to the notice sent by the Bhopal District court.

The organizations blamed the Indian government’s weak- kneed attempts and the US government’s continued support to the offending corporations for the non-appearance of The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC), USA for the second time yesterday. The organisations have sent letters to the Indian Prime Minister and the American President seeking effective action on this matter.

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#Bhopal34 | Dow Chemical’s shameless hypocrisy on social media

Dow Chemical has a lot of blood on its hands for the Bhopal Gas Disaster 34 years ago. Currently they are shamelessly promoting themselves as an environment conscious, sustainability-promoting organization. Which is unbelievably hypocritical if you look at how they have washed their hands off of the on-going disaster in Bhopal.

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